On Having an Adult Narrator in Kids' Fiction - Linda Fausnet Guest Post

If you're like me, you enjoy reading middle-grade books. Many of them are funny, entertaining, and yes, even educational. The vast majority of middle-grade fiction is written from the perspective of a middle-grader, the idea being that a reader of that age can best identify with a similar character in a book.

While it may be true that it's easiest to identify with a character who is most like you, part of the fun of reading is learning about other people and experiencing new adventures. For my middle-grade novel, THE JOYVILLE SWEAT SOX, I decided to mix it up a little and write from the perspective of an adult; an adult who is forced to deal with kids who know absolutely nothing about the sport she loves. I thought it might be for fun for young people to hear the inner thoughts of a grownup who is often annoyed by the young baseball players she's saddled with. In reading this book, we get to see how the main character, Konnie Mack, goes from being extremely frustrated with the kids to becoming very protective of them. By the end of the book, she considers the young players her kids, and anyone who messes with them had better look out!

Naturally, the traditional publishing world passed on THE JOYVILLE SWEAT SOX, mainly citing that the POV was from an adult perspective. That idea was different and, therefore, it was no good to them. Of course, this judgment was passed without reading a single word of the manuscript...

One of the best things about self-publishing is that we are allowed to take risks. We can publish a book with an exciting new idea or a unique perspective, then step back and see what happens. If it sells well, great! If not, a good author will do what she does best. Write another book. In the meantime, it's possible that the first book will eventually gain traction. That simply won't happen in the traditional world. If a book doesn’t sell well immediately, it will be yanked from the shelves and you'll just never know what might have been.

The trouble with never taking risks is that you can end up with a lot of lookalike, cookie-cutter –type of products. The movies are a prime example of this (that's why there is such a glut of superhero movies and bad sequels. It's safer. They are pretty much guaranteed to make money, even if they’re terrible).

I am a married, mother of two. If every book I read was from the perspective of a mother who is the same age as me, I think I would get bored pretty darn quickly. I love to read – and write – books from a totally different perspective from my own. I also write adult fiction, and my debut novel was written in the first-person perspective of a gay man. My second adult fiction book was mainly written in the perspective of a single woman in her 30s. I am currently writing a paranormal romance about Civil War soldiers, and I deliberately made the Confederate soldier the romantic hero, the "good guy" if you will, because I knew that would be a challenge.

Challenges are fun. Writing and reading about people who are different than we are can be challenging, but it can be also be a rewarding experience. I already know how a married woman with kids might see things because I am one. Kids already know how kids their own age see things, so why not give them a new perspective to consider? In THE JOYVILLE SWEAT SOX, they can hopefully laugh along with Konnie as she rolls her eyes, pops her gum, and mutters sarcastic comments under her breath while she struggles to keep from losing her temper. I also hope the kids reading the book will feel a little tug on their heartstrings as Konnie comes to love and protect the kids in the end.

Reading is a wonderful way to be transported to exciting new worlds and to explore different ways of thinking. It is my hope that there are lots of kids out there who will enjoy going on this special journey with Konnie and me. 

~

I thoroughly enjoyed THE JOYVILLE SWEAT SOX--sweet, funny, and incredibly cinematic. Be sure to grab yourself a copy. And keep up with Linda: @LindaFausnet, wannabepride.com.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY + INSPIRATION

My hometown of Springfield was recently named one of Amazon's most romantic cities! In honor of both this distinction and the upcoming holiday, a vlog post:



Instead of giving out chocolate hearts to my followers, I'm offering another treat: I'm rerunning a guest post, which recently appeared on Adventures in YA & Children's Publishing. The post, which details my long road to publication (and how, in the course of two hours in one day, I suddenly had both an agent and book deal), got quite a bit of attention online. I'm running it here in the hopes that it will continue to offer sweet bursts of inspiration, to those still chasing their first publication:


When I got my master’s in ’01, my mom invited me to stay home and devote full-time effort to getting a writing career off the ground (my lifelong dream). I figured it’d take a year or so to write a novel, then it’d sell (I was lucky enough to have placed poetry, short fiction, and literary critique in journals when I was in college, and was under the grand delusion that selling a manuscript would be a breeze for me), and in oh, two years or so, I’d have money in the bank, and I’d be off and running.

Okay, seriously. You can stop laughing now.

The truth is that I spent the next seven and a half years writing and submitting manuscript after manuscript…after manuscript. In that time, my friends from college finished up PhDs, started teaching, doing research, became professionals. I often felt like all I had was a deep gash in the drywall where I’d spent months upon months banging my head against it. And rejection slips. Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of them—more than a thousand in all.

Enter the holiday season of ’08. That’s when my YA, A BLUE SO DARK, was under submission at Flux. I spoke to Brian (Farrey, acquisitions editor at Flux) for the first time just before Thanksgiving, and though I tried to play it cool, I spent Christmas on pins and needles, tied up in knots, hoping that finally the acceptance I’d been working toward for so long would appear.

Appear it did, just a few days after the new year. And literally two hours—I swear it’s true—two hours after I accepted the offer from Flux, the phone rang. On the other end of the line was an agent who was raving about a middle grade book I’d sent earlier that fall. With an offer of representation.

I accepted (Deborah Warren later sold my debut MG, THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, to Dial, and is still my agent). After that initial phone call, though, in the winter of ’09, I just stood in my kitchen, dazed, wondering how it could have happened. Seven and a half years I’d been seeking a book deal, seeking representation. And in the course of two hours in one day, I had both.

The thing is, though, I can’t attribute that incredible day to luck or holiday magic. That day is the result of hard work. Period. That day happened because I really did read every single one of those thousand-plus rejection letters (more than eighty of them were rejections for A BLUE SO DARK). Painful as it sometimes was, I didn’t just toss those rejections in the trash, insist I was right, and continue to submit the same book over and over. I digested the critique and I dove back in, revising before submitting again.

For the most part, though, I really think that’s what luck is really made of: the ability to recognize your own shortcomings, the willingness to listen to advice, and the sweat of some insanely hard work.

ON FINDING A NEW AUTHOR TO LOVE (+GIVEAWAY OF MY OWN)

I'd never read an Anne Lamott book before picking up CROOKED LITTLE HEART. Actually, if you want to get technical about it, I haven't read CROOKED LITTLE HEART, either...not completely, anyway. I'm about fifty pages in.

And I have to say it: I'm so in love with this book.

I've heard wonderful things abut Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD, and found out about this book through an interview printed in the back of another book I was enjoying; the author of that book recommended CROOKED LITTLE HEART. And as an author with a book out myself that's already over a year old, I sort of feel the need to wave the flag for backlisted titles. So I bought this book...and have found an author I so, so admire.

My admiration runs so deep, in fact, that I had to put up a post about this book before I'm even finished. But every single time I pick up CROOKED LITTLE HEART, I think, "I'm going to read everything this woman's ever written."

Now, that's a good feeling, indeed...

Also, a new guest post of my own just went live, and includes a chance to win a swag pack! Check out the details at Snowdrop Dreams of Books!

FAVORITE GUEST POST OF ALL TIME

I got a chance to "meet" fellow author Tracy Barrett online, when I asked her to take part in my MG blog, Smack Dab in the Middle (the blog is growing in leaps and bounds; we're now offering writing tips, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways, which excites me to no end).

I soon learned Tracy's taking the (let's face it: thrilling and scary) plunge into being a full-time author...She's even blogging about the experience at Goodbye, day job!

She asked me to blog about my own experiences as a full-time author...and the post, in which I recognize my family's incredible financial support, is now officially my favorite guest post of all time. Not kidding. All time. Find out why at Goodbye, day job!

WHERE I AM

Yep, this is me right now: plugging away at my current WIP, trying to get her completely wrapped up. (Doesn't coming to the end of a project just make you want to sprint for the finish line?)

I'm really very lucky to be able to wake up and get to my current WIP this morning, too...Brutal storms all but destroyed Joplin last night...No debris in my own yard, though I've heard that residents near in the Springfield area are finding business records, X-rays, etc. on their property...If that storm had veered just a tad off its path, we would have been hit.

Just breaks my heart to see the footage of Joplin right now...

...To recap, here are last week's Playing Hurt Blog Tour Stops:

Interviews at Fiction Folio, YA Book Nuts, and Book Chic. The old lit major in me also wrote a guest post on the classics for Jez's Bookcase.

READING NOW VS. THEN: CATHERINE RYAN HYDE’S JUMPSTART THE WORLD

I’ve been so wrapped up in the release of PLAYING HURT—and the super-fun corresponding blog tours—I haven’t had much time to blog about anything else! (I can’t even begin to describe how truly cool bloggers have been about the release of PLAYING HURT. I’m not joking. My readers? The best. I’m so, so lucky…)

I’ve been wanting to write a post for some time about Catherine Ryan Hyde’s JUMPSTART THE WORLD. Thing is, every single time I start to write it, I get a woosh of all sorts of images: me sitting in the movie theater when I was in grad school, watching PAY IT FORWARD (I was already a fan of Catherine’s)…I remember the insanely exciting, scary, stressful months leading up to the release of A BLUE SO DARK, and the hope and—okay, intimidation—I felt approaching Catherine for a blurb. I think of all the exchanges I’ve had with Catherine via email and online in the months—good grief, A BLUE SO DARK is actually nearly a year old!—since she sent her incredibly encouraging blurb…

As for JUMPSTART, I loved it—as I absolutely knew I would. Some novels (I’m thinking of Anderson’s WINTERGIRLS or Suzanne Phillips’s BURN) you read because they instantly put an off-kilter feeling in your gut. You’re propelled forward to find out how the protagonist’s knotted-up mess will finally untangle. Although the storyline is equally as compelling, JUMPSTART has a vulnerability about it, a more gentle tug that draws the reader on to its conclusion. The sweetness is what I wanted to return to, each time I had to put the book down.

As for me, anytime I cracked the cover of JUMPSTART, I also thought about Catherine. I saw her hand in the pages…

Before I began writing full-time myself, authors were truly distant, almost sacred creatures. I saw novels as objects—as things. As I was growing up, and as I entered adulthood, authors seemed, for the most part, somewhat unapproachable. Not Catherine, though. And because of that, as I read JUMPSTART, I truly felt that the novel was living. Breathing.

I don’t think I’ll ever pick up a book again and think of it as a thing…

Thank you, Catherine…

How about you? Has meeting an author online or in person changed how you read?

(Aaaand...because the PLAYING HURT Tour is still rolling: Check out the interview at Yay! Reads. I'm also in the midst of a couple of international PLAYING HURT Tours...Check out my guest post on world building and the review posted at Amaterasu Reads (as part of the Philippine Tour). And, as part of the Canadian Tour, check out the interview and review at YA Booklover, as well as my guest post on Clint, my last-minute addition, and the review at Moonlight Gleam...)

FALLING AROUND CORNERS...

Said it before, I'll say it again: I'm no athlete. I'm pretty sure I can fall around corners. Not exactly the portrait of physical grace.


And if you'd told me, two or three years ago, that my second book would feature a couple of athletes, I would have laughed in your face.

So why did I choose to write about athletes? Check it out at Potter, Percy & I!

ON BOOK COVERS + 2 GREAT REVIEWS, GIVEAWAYS

Wow-zahs, the reviews are so positive for PLAYING HURT! Addicted 2 Novels has posted a great review (and, I believe she's also the first to mention Brandon, Chelsea's brother), as has Stuck in Books; at SIB, Valerie's also got a PLAYING HURT giveaway!

Mindful Musings is also featuring my guest post on the covers for A BLUE SO DARK and PLAYING HURT, and why I love PLAYING HURT's cover even more than BLUE.

What do you guys think? Do you like covers to feature metaphorical, poetic interpretations of a book's content (like A BLUE SO DARK), or do you prefer more literal interpretations (like PLAYING HURT)?

COUNTDOWN WIDGET: THE NEW CHRISTMAS TREE (+ PLAYING HURT SNEAK PEEK & GIVEAWAY!)

I'm seriously beginning to think the post-release countdown widget is a little bit like the post-Christmas Day tree. I had such an incredible time (excitement running amok) looking forward to PLAYING HURT's release, it pains me a little to take my widget down.



...I know I must, though. So...know it's with a little sadness that I'm removing it from my sidebar...



But: Cool stuff abounds: Mundie Moms is hosting a giveaway (and a top-10 list of some of my favorite love songs)! And, you can catch a sneak peek of PLAYING HURT at Only Sexy Books Allowed!

PLAYING HURT B-DAY PARTY, A BLUE SO DARK GIVEAWAY, + SELLING YOUR BOOK

My kitchen smells like flowers and there’s a song in my heart. Yep, PLAYING HURT’s release has been incredible—how cool was yesterday’s Twitter book birthday?

Also: don’t hesitate to check out my guest post, “Costumes, Glitter, and Blank Checks: What it Takes to Sell Your Book” at the Parking Lot Confessional.

And, my firstborn, Aura, stopped by Lost for Words for a character interview…Be sure to get in on the A BLUE SO DARK giveaway!

Also, check out my post on the Writer’s Digest Blog (“5 Ways Writers Kid Themselves,”) which includes a chance to win a copy of A BLUE SO DARK and PLAYING HURT!

ADVICE ON REJECTION, MAJORING IN ENGLISH...AND...A PLAYING HURT SNEAK PEEK!

Several super-cool guest posts are live right now…Katie at Call Me Crazy is running my advice to those of you who wonder if you’re wasting your time majoring in English (you’re not)…Check out that fantastic blog header at Call Me Crazy—great quote there from somebody who wrote a book called A BLUE SO DARK.

Donna at Bites is also running my advice on getting through rejection (and I know plenty about rejection—7 ½ years of it)…

And—drum roll, please—as part of the Teen Book Scene tour, Books Complete Me is now running a sneak peek of PLAYING HURT!

Thanks to Donna, Katie, and Cindy for having me over at their incredible blogs…

SARAH OCKLER: COOLEST, THICKEST-SKINNED AUTHOR (AND PLAYING HURT LOCALS #5)

We all say it, as authors. Jokingly, of course: how we’d love to get a book banned. Under the header of “No Publicity is Bad Publicity,” we talk about how our sales would spike. We’d get to be notorious (which is every bit as good, if not better, than just plain famous).

Until, of course, it actually happens. Or—someone attempts to make it happen. As Sarah Ockler knows.

Yes, oh, yes, those of you in the Missouri area know I’m talking about the great Scroggins debacle. The attempt of one narrow-minded individual to ban the books of two incredible YA authors (Laurie Halse Anderson, whom I greatly admire, was also in his quest to ban).

No author can stand idly by, quietly, and just be glad they missed the bullet when the subject of banning rears its head. Because the bare truth is, we could all be banned. Every single one of us with a book in print. If you can type it, it can be twisted, taken out of context, misinterpreted and misrepresented.

I love and admire Sarah for exhibiting such grace during such a difficult time. To show our continued support, we ought to all order a copy of TWENTY BOY SUMMER and FIXING DELILAH now—even if we already own a copy. Buy one for a girl you love. Introduce her to a woman to admire.

…I’m thrilled to wrap up my Local Leg of the PLAYING HURT Blog Tour at Sarah’s blog. (You can get over to Sarah's blog, leave a comment, post links, and officially start filling out the contest entry form for the PLAYING HURT signed-copy contest)...I stand with the vast majority of my fellow Missourians when I say I do not support book banning, as I relate in the post which also appears today on Sarah’s blog:

Barefoot in the Bible Belt

Wull, gaaaw-lee, shore is a might cold ‘round these here parts. It’s Feb’rary, after all. Where’m I gon’ get a little heat? Think I’ll jes’ burn these here books. Ain’t nothin’ but a bunch ‘a smut in ‘em, anyhowse.

Come on—that’s the picture you get, isn’t it? All I have to say is “Midwest” or “Ozarks,” and you get that image: a barefoot hillbilly who’s never used a be-verb correctly in his entire life.

And as soon as I think of that stereotype, I get a full-body cringe.

I’m a lifer myself—born and raised in Springfield, Missouri. And when the Scroggins debacle ensued in the fall of 2010, and the works of Sarah Ockler and Laurie Halse Anderson were unfairly targeted in one man’s narrow-minded banning attempt, all I could think was, “Here we go again.”

But I’m not talking about banning—not entirely. I’m also talking about that ridiculous, awful, barefoot hillbilly stereotype. Because in addition to attacking the work of two incredible young adult authors, I feared Scroggins’s complaint was also about to add to the unfair stereotyping of Missouri.

In the months since the story broke, the headline continues to pop up here and there in the blogosphere. And just as I feared, instead of identifying Scroggins as the source of the banning attempt…Yep, you guessed it—the headlines or quotes or discussions that pop up indicate MISSOURI wants to ban books. MISSOURI stands for censorship.

Actually, the majority of us don’t.

I could go blue in the face pointing to a myriad of dry facts proving my point. I could talk about the slew of local bloggers who put up posts expressing disdain for Scroggins’ attempt. I could talk about the fact that MSU students convened to protest book banning.

…But more important than these overt, published examples of fellow Ozarkers’ disgust over book banning is that which can’t be quoted or measured or recorded. It’s the open-mindedness that has lived in the blood of so many Ozarkers for generations. A traits that stands in direct opposition to the goals of Wesley Scroggins.

Just as much as I feel the work of my fellow YA authors was completely miscategorized, I also feel that much of my own Missouri’s opinions have been unfairly categorized. And just as an author’s work can’t be judged by lifting a stray line out of context, neither should an entire region be judged by one man—or even one school district—that attempts to pull a book from library shelves.

To me, Missouri has always been a place of strength—and, yes, of open-mindedness. A place that I’m proud to call my home—and to showcase in my writing…

ANOTHER BOOK JUNKIE: PLAYING HURT LOCAL #4

The love for the locals continues with Amanda at Another Book Junkie! Today, I’m offering a list of Springfield faves.

Funny but true: You don’t know how acclimated you get to the tastes of a particular region until you leave. When my old college friends come back into town, they all have their own favorite haunts where they insist we do our catching up.

If I were to leave this area for an extended period of time, I know I’d miss my Mexican Villa. Two beef enchiladas and a Coke. Now, that’s livin’…

Be sure to head on over to Amanda’s blog, comment and link for the PLAYING HURT signed-copy contest!

Favorite Things About Springfield

Having lived in Springfield, Missouri my entire life, I’ve racked up a lifetime worth of favorites…

Do you think our cashew chicken is nationwide fame worthy?

Do I. In fact, I specifically requested Lucy’s Cashew Chicken for my last birthday dinner.

Where was your favorite place to hang out as a teenager?

The mall. Back when the mall had movie theaters—and record stores—and an arcade! If I could find an 80’s-vintage mall, I STILL think it’d be a good time…

Have you ever visited Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield?

Oh, yes. Field trips in school, Civil War reenactments…I’d have to say I personally prefer it to, say, The Nature Center.

Do you support any local sports teams?

I’m funny about sports—I get involved in individual players, rather than teams. Got to be a Greinke fan when he played for the Royals…Now that he’s been traded, it looks like I’m going to be following the Brewers.

Are the Fantastic Cavers really that “fantastic”?

In the picture taken of me at Fantastic Caverns, I have my new Cabbage Patch doll with me (oh, how that dates me)…It’s been a long time, but I do remember thinking it was cool.

What towns in the area are you particularly fond of?

I have family ties to the Fair Grove area…there’s a town near Fair Grove—tiny little thing—called Bassville. My great grandmother’s first husband was a Bass. I swear, if it happened in the Ozarks, I’m tied to it somehow…

Favorite thing to do in Branson?

Honestly, I haven’t had a vacation since the summer of 1999. And the only complete day off I’ve taken since ’01 was May 1, 2010—A BLUE SO DARK’s release date. I’m dying to take a weekend—rent a cabin on the lake. I’m hoping to get there this summer. Fingers crossed.

Any particular restaurants in the area that you would recommend?

Mexican Villa. Two beef enchiladas and a Coke. I think I could write a sonnet about Mexican Villa beef enchiladas, actually.

If someone were to come to Springfield, MO for one day only, what specific Springfield attraction would you recommend?

Our skies. It’s a simple answer, but I swear, we have the most beautiful skies in the Ozarks…

What’s your favorite thing about Springfield, Missouri?

In short? It’s home. You know that feeling you get when you’ve been away from your house for a while? That it’s-so-good-to-be-back feeling? How fantastic it feels to sleep in your own bed after you’ve been gone? That’s Springfield for me.

THE JUNIPER BREEZE: PLAYING HURT LOCAL #2

I really envy teen bloggers. Writers just seemed so distant when I was a teen. I can’t tell you how many times I labored over a fan letter and got—well—a whole lotta nothin’, frankly.

While I didn’t get to be part of the blogosphere as a teen, at least I get to be part of it with some incredible teens…fellow writer and Missourian Maggie at The Juniper Breeze, for example.

Maggie and Sam (One Sparkling Star—stay tuned for tomorrow’s post) have just been incredible…It was a joy to see their faces at all my Springfield-based author events when A BLUE SO DARK was released…

I’m including my guest post for The Juniper Breeze below, but don’t forget to comment and link to Maggie’s blog for a chance to win a copy of PLAYING HURT!

My Missouri Roots

My roots in Missouri run deep—six generations deep. My great-great-great grandparents were some of the first settlers in Southwest Missouri. A family cemetery exists not far from Springfield, where many of my Civil-War-era relatives are buried.

While my parents both grew up in the Kansas City area, I am myself a lifelong Springfieldian. Born and raised on Cashew Chicken and Tent Theater. Attended SMSU for undergrad and grad school. (It will always be SMS to me, no matter how many years away we are from the official name change). Bottom line? I’m Springfield through-and-through.

It wasn’t really by design that I’ve lived here forever. But as far as my writing is concerned, I’m glad I have…

In some respects, a book needs to be universal. In order for readers to fall in love with your main character, they need to “get” your main character. She (or he) needs to be somebody that your readers feel like they could walk out of their front door and run into. You don’t really want to craft a character who would only make sense in one geographical location…
But—you do want your work to have a sense of place, a local color. Place, in short, is more than just a two-dimensional backdrop.

Take THE BLUE BISTRO, by Elin Hilderbrand. Okay, so that’s not YA, but it is a romance, like PLAYING HURT. That book has such a vibrant, breathing sense of place that I’d argue the location (Nantucket, and more specifically, the bistro located in Nantucket) is actually one of the main characters. When the bistro closed toward the end of the novel, I found myself mourning more than I did when the restaurant’s owner, Fee, died. I can’t imagine that book taking place in another area of the country—just wouldn’t have worked.

I’ve lived here so long, I find Missouri (or, by extension, the Ozarks) becoming a part of my work without a conscious effort on my part. And I don’t mean I can toss in a few names of intersecting streets to give it “authenticity.” Local color isn’t something that can be achieved with proper nouns.

If you’ve lived in a certain area long enough, local color becomes part of your characters. In PLAYING HURT, when Chelsea and her family leave Missouri and head to Minnesota for vacation, I think they take Missouri with them: I see it in Brandon’s refusal to let his sister be dishonest about her relationship with Clint. I see it in Chelsea’s refusal to let the object of her desire slide by. In my debut, A BLUE SO DARK, I see the Ozarks in Aura’s straightforward, blunt style of narration. The Ozarks I know is full of (emotionally and physically) strong people. And I love building novels around that kind of character…

BLUE BLURBS + GUEST POST FOR NANOWRIMOS...

Guys! The blurbs you're sending for BLUE are utterly fantastic...I love them. Love, love, love. You're the best. And keep 'em comin'! I won't be updating the website for at least another week, so anybody who hasn't read BLUE yet, get thee to a library / bookstore!

Also, for those of you up to your eyebrows in NaNoWriMo, a guest post just went live at Reading, Writing, and Waiting on silencing your inner editor...

Can't wait to read more BLUE blurbs!

GUEST POST + GIVEAWAY: YA HIGHWAY

Read the full story on my path to publication and get in the running for a giveaway of A BLUE SO DARK at YA Highway!

(Copies for giveaways are getting scarce…so be sure you submit to the contest!)

WHILE I WAS AWAY...

While dealing with my techno-issues last week, a fantastic review and fun guest post went live!

Debasmita at Bookaholics Oye!! said, "Holly Schindler’s writing is beautiful, lyrical, poetic and almost magical." And as she hails from India, I believe she's my farthest-away review to date! (Talk about "magical," there's something about knowing my words were read so far away that gives me goose bumps...)

And Krista at Up the Tower of Books posted my guest blog on how to wrench yourself from a writing or reading slump...


Race on over to check 'em out!

"7 THINGS I'VE LEARNED SO FAR"

...Been waiting for my next writing tip of 2010? A guest post just went live at the Writer's Digest GLA Blog, featuring seven new tips!

Head on over and dig in!

...Update: the GLA blog's having some...technical difficulties. Newer posts had to be removed to speed up the server. Hang tight! The post'll be up soon...

...Update to the update: post is up and running! Okay, now dig in!

DAFFODILS, DANDELIONS, AND GUEST POSTS GALORE!

Two of my guest posts just went live this morning! The first explores how I moved from writing literary fiction in my debut YA to writing a romance in my sophomore novel.

…I know that at first blush, literary fiction and romance might seem to have about as much in common as vibrant spring daffodils and dried-up old autumn leaves…But I say these two styles of writing are far more alike than that first blush might let on…

Here are a few thoughts on writing in multiple genres (which has also been posted this morning at The Book Pixie):

My debut novel, A BLUE SO DARK, is a literary YA that tackles mental illness, the nature of creativity, and the healing power of art, and is due out from Flux Books May 1!

My sophomore YA, PLAYING HURT, a summer romance that occurs between two athletes, is due out from Flux in ’11.

I know this might, at first, seem a little strange—following a literary novel with a romance. When I was in college, literary (character-driven) work and genre (plot-driven) work were discussed as two completely different forms of writing. But the revision process I went through to sell these two novels proves just how much the two genres depend on one another.

Let me explain:

I wrote A BLUE SO DARK in an explosion of creative energy—the whole process took just a little over two months! I cleaned it up, polished it, and began to submit…and the rejections started flooding my inbox. I was hearing that the book had some good literary writing but was just plain too internal. The novel took place far too much in Aura’s head. So I had to insert some action—instead of Aura telling the reader how she felt about her mother or her school life or her art or her best friend, I began to devise scenes in which we could see her interact with the people in her life.

Once Aura was talking and moving about in the world, she became a fully rounded character. Those editors I was submitting to could actually understand Aura better when they witnessed her interacting with the world around her than they could when she told them who she was straight-out!

PLAYING HURT was originally a romance about a couple of teens who found love through a summer affair. The main character, Chelsea, basically learned, in the initial draft, that there was a difference between friendship and romantic love—for the first time, she learned what lust, what passion felt like. But while the first draft of this book was filled with dramatized scenes, there just didn’t seem to be enough going on internally with the characters.

So…..I took a look at my draft, and thought my main character, Chelsea, seemed kind of…athletic. She liked the outdoor activities that took place at the resort where she met Clint, her love interest. So I thought—what if she’s an ex-athlete? What if she’s been hurt, and is at the resort to get some confidence…and then I thought, what if Clint’s been hurt…I began to build them up internally, focusing on character development rather than plot this time to fully round out the story.

Basically, I had to use what I’d learned from all my reading of genre fiction to infuse drama into A BLUE SO DARK, my literary novel. And I had to use what I’d learned about character development from literary fiction in order to fill out PLAYING HURT, my romance!

…So, yeah, literary and genre…I think they absolutely go hand-in-hand…


Now that I’ve whet you’re appetites, and you’re dying for another serving of writing advice, check this out: HOW DANDELIONS MAKE ME A BETTER WRITER. I’m not joking. They do—find out how over at The Book Girl Reviews!

GUEST POST AT THE FIRST NOVELS CLUB

My very first guest post is now live at The First Novels Club!

...This post gave me the chance to break out of the question 'n answer interview format, and allowed me to write a few words about how I personally balance writing with the goings-on of life...

In all honesty, though, I've got a cheat (as I explain in my guest post)...I've got some insanely incredible financial support from my family. So my full-time job is writing...I don't have to balance writing and any other job. I know. Very, very, very Room of One's Own, isn't it?

...I'd love to hear from some fellow writers...especially those of you who are balancing writing, life, and work, and / or school...How the holy spellcheck do you guys do that???